Andy Bannister
13 min read ⭑
“My passion is making Jesus known. … People are more open than ever to spiritual conversations—and I get excited about showing why Jesus makes the most sense of all our longings, desires, struggles, and questions.”
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
I grew up in London, England, and since then have lived in a succession of cities: Oxford, Toronto, and Dundee in Scotland. One of the joys of cities is the diversity—whether that’s of people, arts, or food. (Although I’m not sure whether Dundee’s unique contribution to world cuisine, the deep-fried mince pie, technically counts as food.)
But for all this, I’m not a city lover. I find cities noisy, feel claustrophobic in them, and far prefer the outdoors. Thus, despite having a myriad of diverse eateries a stone’s throw away, my favorite place to eat is not a place, or at least not a set of tables and chairs surrounded by walls. I love to cook and eat in the great outdoors—to take family or friends, hike into the wilderness, and fire up the camping stove.
One of my favorite memories of this was on our honeymoon (my wife, Astrid, and I will have been married 25 years this September). We spent two weeks climbing in the English Lake District. One day, I took Astrid up Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain. Two-thirds of the way up, there’s a spectacular rocky plateau with views for miles, so we sat by the side of the trail and cooked spaghetti Bolognese. The smell of the meal drifted down the mountain, and a succession of hikers hauling themselves wearily past us on the way up to the summit commented that if we’d opened a café, we could’ve made a small fortune.
That memory combines so many good things for me—amazing scenery, great food, and the company of the woman I love. Since then, we’ve enjoyed hundreds of meals outdoors, and we’re now teaching our kids the same pleasure. If only I could work out how to fry a mince pie on a camping stove, my joy would be complete.
Klim Musalimov; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?
One of my favorite “unspiritual” interests is conjuring. It’s a hobby I first fell in love with when I was 13 years old. Every Saturday morning, I would trek across London to attend classes at Davenports Magic Shop, an Aladdin’s cave of a place that was all the more wondrous for being located in a cavernous underground shopping mall. There I learned how to baffle people with card tricks, saw rabbits in two, and produce girls from hats.
That hobby was, surprisingly, a brilliant preparation for future ministry, and so I’m probably highly unusual as an evangelist in that my first forays into public speaking involved card tricks, circus skills, and stand-up comedy. Still, it means if I’m preaching and somebody heckles with a cry of “On yer bike!” I can at least still ride a unicycle.
Where does God fit into all this? I love performing tricks because of the sense of wonder that often results when you fool people. We live in an increasingly disenchanted culture, one that tells us everything can be reduced to bits and bytes, molecules and matter. But if we can help people discover “Wow!” moments, whether that’s a trick that baffles them or the beauty in a landscape or a sunrise, that creates opportunities to suggest that maybe there’s more to life than the material.
I think that laughter is a particularly precious gift from God, whether that’s personally (I’ve learned the best way to deal with my fears is to laugh at them in the light of the gospel) or when it comes to evangelism. I love looking for “wondering” questions that can help begin spiritual conversations. Asking, “Have you ever wondered why humans uniquely enjoy comedy and laughter?” has helped me build a bridge to spiritual conversations using everything from Monty Python to Penn and Teller.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?
My weakness is comedy. By that, I don’t mean my delight in telling dad jokes (my kids learned to roll their eyes before they could walk) nor my predilection for puns (check out the many lurking like a garden rake in the grass in the footnotes in my books). Rather, I mean the constant temptation to use humor as a defense or a place to hide.
I probably learned this trick at school, where I discovered that if I could make a bully laugh, he might refrain from bouncing me up and down on my head. Then, as an adult, I learned how you could use humor to duck a difficult question or bury feelings you’d rather not talk about.
If there’s a generalizable lesson here, it’s that every gift we’re given also has a potential dark side. God has made us all with a unique set of skills, strengths, and abilities. But being the messed-up, fallen humans that we are, we also often find ways to use them negatively. And so it is with humor—it’s brilliant for building rapport with people and communicating the gospel. But I regularly have to remind myself that it’s not such a good thing to hide behind.
There’s a lovely moment in C. S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew where the raven asks Aslan, “Have I made the first joke?” To which the great lion responds, “No, little friend, you have been the first joke.” I’m grateful that each year that goes by, while God often looks at me and laughs and shakes his head at my daftness, he still loves me, calls me, uses me, and continues to work through the gifts he’s given me—and that’s no laughing matter.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?
My passion is making Jesus known. At Solas, the organization I lead in the U.K. (“Solas” comes from the Scots’ Gaelic word for “light”), we have the joy of helping churches put on low-key outreach events in places like cafés, bars, restaurants, universities, and workplaces. While it’s true that we live in an increasingly secular culture, we’re finding that people are more open than ever to spiritual conversations—and I get excited about showing why Jesus makes the most sense of all our longings, desires, struggles, and questions.
I’m also passionate about helping Christians feel more ready, relaxed, and confident to have natural conversations about their faith. My first job was working for a hospital in London and during my time there, I was very much an undercover Christian. Outside of work, I was actively involved in church, but inside work, I said nothing about my faith for fear of making a total mess of things. I now realize I wasn’t alone in those fears, and so I love helping Christians discover how to talk about Jesus in a normal, winsome way and teaching them the tools for everyday conversations about faith.
My other delight is writing. Well, I say delight. Like many writers, I find writing a painful process, especially deadlines (although I love the whooshing sound they make as they go past). My writing—both in the past and now—reflects my two core interests. I’ve written two books engaging with non-Christians (one for atheists, one for Muslims), but my latest, How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot is the book I’d love to post through a wormhole so my 20-year-old self could read it.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
Every time I stand in front of an audience or talk one on one with an enquirer, I’m reminded of how much I need the inspiration of the Spirit. The biggest danger for those of us who are evangelists or preachers is the day we think, Yeah, I’ve got this, before saying something stupid or misjudging the size of the stage and toppling into the front row.
On one occasion, I’d just finished giving a lunchtime talk at McGill University in Canada, and as I stepped out of the lecture theater, a student intercepted me. “Would you have a minute to answer a simple question?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said.
“I’m a Muslim,” the student explained, “and I want to know why you Christians believe in something so outlandish as the Trinity?”
“I thought you said a simple question,” I replied. “Have you got time for a coffee?”
As we walked to a nearby café, I wondered how and where to begin. The Trinity is a complex question at the best of times, especially for Muslims raised on the Qur’an’s radically different view of God. I quietly prayed and felt strongly led to try something different.
“Could I have 15 uninterrupted minutes to give you an overview of what the Bible says about God?” I asked my new friend. “And then you can ask questions afterward.”
He agreed, and so beginning with Genesis, I gave a broad, sweeping account of God’s character continuing through the Exodus, the Exile, and the prophets and culminating in Jesus and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. I aimed to show how the Trinity made the best sense of God’s nature revealed in the entirety of the Bible.
When I ended, the Muslim looked amazed. “That’s incredible—it’s beautiful even,” he said. “I can for the first time see why Christians believe this.”
To this day, I can’t remember exactly what I said. Or how it all connected. And that’s how I know it was God behind my answer—because I simply didn’t have the resources in me to do it myself.
Not every conversation, talk, or piece of writing sees inspiration that dramatic. Nevertheless, I’ve learned that it’s usually when I’m at my driest, most uninspired, and most desperate that God shows up.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So, spill it: Which spiritual practice is workin’ best for you right now?
One of the most spiritually enriching activities I’ve discovered in recent years has been family worship. We have a 10-year-old daughter, Caitriona, and an 8-year-old son, Chris. First thing in the morning, just after everybody has dragged themselves out of bed, we’ll all snuggle up together under an oversized duvet and spend some time with God as a family.
We’ll start by singing a hymn or song together. It’s been huge fun teaching our kids the old classics—“Amazing Grace” is a firm favorite—as well as more contemporary stuff. Next, we’ll take a look at a Bible passage and discuss it for a bit, and then we’ll work on memorizing a verse. (We try to learn a new one each week.) Finally, everybody dives into the Prayer Box, a jar we have filled with folded scraps of paper bearing the names of family, friends, neighbors, and missionaries. Every one of us pulls out a slip of paper at random and prays for whatever name they’ve grabbed.
Family worship time has become a highlight of my day. Not only has it helped us build patterns of devotion and discipleship into our children’s lives, but it has also helped me see the Bible in fresh ways as my kids ask questions about things they’ve seen in Scripture that I may not have noticed before.
It’s also a chance to experience God at work in wonderful ways, especially through some of the answers to prayer that my kids have seen. For example, Chris and Caitriona were recently praying for a boy who lives across the street with whom they often play. They asked God for the courage to invite him to church. They finally plucked up the courage, asked their friend, and were amazed when he said yes and started coming regularly to church with us each Sunday.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources—lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are three resources that have impacted you?
First up would be C. S. Lewis. That answer feels a bit of a fraud because everybody says Lewis, right? It also feels like a cheat because Lewis wrote so much. So which bit of Lewis? Well, I’m going to plump for The Cosmic Trilogy, which is sneaky because it’s technically three books, but I have them in a single volume! I love The Cosmic Trilogy because it shows Lewis exploring deep ideas not just in highly accessible form but also with such beauty. (Go read the “Great Dance” sequence.) It was also the book that really taught me that the best evangelism appeals to the mind, the heart, and the imagination.
Second, I’d have to include Celtic Daily Prayer, a wonderful collection of liturgy, daily readings, and reflections from the Celtic Christian tradition, the form of Christianity that held sway in the U.K. long before the Catholic Church spread across Europe. The Celtic Church was full of rugged Christians like Aidan, Cuthbert, and Columba whose Christian faith was earthy, grounded, and rooted. If you’re ever in the U.K., visit Lindisfarne, a tiny wave-battered island off the northeast coast of England from where the Celtic monks took Christianity across the country. It’s one of those thin places where you can almost tangibly feel that Christians have been praying for 1,500 years.
Third, I’ve been hugely helped by the brilliant Christian Heroes: Then and Now series written by the husband-and-wife writing team of Janet and Jeff Benge. These are short, highly readable biographies of dozens of Christians throughout history. Not merely have their stories been incredibly encouraging and challenging for me, but they’re also books that are accessible to children, so my kids are now devouring them. Appreciating and learning from those who followed Christ before us is a massively important part of discipleship, whatever our age.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season—and tell us what it’s done for you.
The resource that I turn back to time and time again, especially when life is difficult, is the writings of pastor and evangelist F. W. Boreham (1871-1959).
As a young man aged just 24, Boreham stepped onto a boat and sailed to the other side of the world to become the minister of a tiny church in Mosgiel, New Zealand. Later, he would pastor in Hobart, Tasmania, and Melbourne, Australia.
But Boreham wasn’t just a preacher and evangelist. It’s true that hundreds if not thousands came to faith through his ministry, and when Billy Graham visited Australia in 1959, he made a point of visiting Boreham. Yet Boreham also discovered a gift for writing and, over his lifetime, wrote thousands of articles, newspaper columns, and short devotional pieces as well as over 55 books.
Boreham had a gift for taking everyday objects or experiences and building short essays around them to make a devotional or evangelistic point. And over 60 years after his death, Boreham’s books have become sought after by collectors (like me!) because of the incredible spiritual depth, power of illustration, and amazing wisdom packed into everything he wrote. Rarely a day goes by when I don’t read something by him.
As someone for whom writing is a big part of life, Boreham is an inspiration. But he’s also a tremendous comfort, for here is a man who left all that he knew behind to minister on the far side of the world. A man who suffered a horrendous injury as a teenager that almost killed him and cost him his foot. A man who lived through a time of huge global upheaval—two world wars! And yet he never despaired and never complained but used his writing consistently and beautifully to bring the reader back to Jesus and the beauty and hope of the gospel.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
I recently finished writing How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot: A Panic-Free Guide to Having Natural Conversations About Your Faith, a book that has taken about 10 years to write (on and off). I don’t find writing an easy process. In fact, I used to say writing a book was like giving birth until my wife said, “No it isn’t,” and threw things at me until I found a new metaphor.
But now the book is done. And even though I find writing really hard, I’m beginning to think about the next project. God is stirring in me a real desire to write something for spiritual seekers. I’ve written a book for atheists and another book for Muslims, but I keep coming across folks who aren’t skeptics. They’re open, but they don’t know what to believe or where to start on any kind of spiritual journey. (Think of Acts 17 and the Unknown God worshippers whom Paul meets.)
So I’ve joined forces with a friend of mine who’s a writer and comedian, and later this year, we’ll be walking a long-distance trail from west to east across the U.K., writing as we go. We figured that a book encouraging a spiritual journey would work well if it used a real physical journey as a central metaphor. The book will include mountains, hiking, history, culture, poetry, spiritual conversations, questions, evangelism, and more. And we’re trusting that God will weave all those threads into a beautiful tapestry—and that we won’t get lost in a peat bog en route.
I’m thrilled about the idea and the project. But I’m also terrified that it’s a mad idea that can never work! Nevertheless, I’m excited that God seems to be in it. And I’m encouraged that both my publisher and my agent, a hard-nosed Chicago type, love the idea.
In between walking and writing, I’ll be continuing to crisscross the U.K. (and further afield), speaking to audiences of all faiths (or no faith) about Jesus, why he matters, and why I find the gospel message persuasive, compelling, and beautiful.
There’s no getting around it. For many of us, sharing the gospel—whether with family members, friends, or strangers—can feel awkward and intimidating. And yet Jesus calls each of us to share the Good News. So how do we deal with that discomfort?
If you look up “How to share the gospel” on Google, you’ll immediately find dozens of different evangelism styles, tips, and formulas. Although these methods can help us find our footing in conversations with unbelievers, they can’t give us what we need most—the Holy Spirit.
Even Paul, a trained scholar and experienced evangelist, said: “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:3-5, ESV).
Sharing the gospel may never seem easy, and that’s okay. The Holy Spirit is eager to guide us as we love and share Jesus with unbelievers in our lives. Will we let him?
Andy Bannister is a speaker, writer, broadcaster, and the director of Solas, a U.K.-based ministry. He loves talking about the persuasiveness of Jesus and the gospel to people of all faiths and none in venues ranging from cafés to universities to churches. Andy is the author of three popular books (and one heavyweight academic book nobody has heard of). He lives in Wiltshire in England, where he’s husband to Astrid and father to Caitriona and Christopher. When not speaking or writing, Andy loves mountaineering, juggling, and woodwork—although not all at the same time. Find him online at andybannister.net.
